Popeyes

• 1. Introduction

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  Al Copeland said he left the apostrophe out of Popeyes because he was "too poor" to afford one. He meant it as a joke, and the joke stuck to a chain that now counts 5,413 restaurants across 51 countries and territories. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen sells Southern fried chicken, has its headquarters in Miami, and has roots in Louisiana. Its story involves a failed first restaurant, a mountain of debt, a famous cartoon sailor, and an argument over who the name really honors. Who is the Popeye in Popeyes? How did the chain outlast its founder's money troubles? And how did a single sandwich turn into a national event?

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• 2. Two Possible Popeyes

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  Gene Hackman played a detective named Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in the 1971 film The French Connection. Alvin C. Copeland claimed that this character, and not the comic strip sailor, gave the stores their name. The film had come out a year before the chain was founded. The public did not see it that way for long. The early brand became closely tied to Popeye the Sailor through the company's sponsorship of a children's show in New Orleans called Popeye & Pals. The cartoon figure appeared on everything from packaging to racing boats. The chain later acquired the rights to use Popeye the Sailor in its marketing and kept them for 35 years. In late November 2012, AFC announced a mutual termination of its licensing contract with King Features Syndicate, which ended the link to the Popeye characters. The name itself still carries legal weight. The chain forced a small fish and chip shop called Popeye's Takeaways, in Feilding, New Zealand, to change its name, even though that shop does not sell fried chicken.

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• 3. Chicken on the Run

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  The doors first opened on the 12th of June 1972 in Arabi, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish. The sign read "Chicken on the Run." Owner Al Copeland, who lived from 1944 to 2008, wanted to compete with Kentucky Fried Chicken. The restaurant failed after several months. Copeland reopened it four days later as Popeyes Mighty Good Chicken. By 1975 the company had a new name again, Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken. Franchising began in 1976, starting in Louisiana. The chain crossed into Canada in 1984 and opened its 500th restaurant in 1985. Along the way, B. P. Newman of Laredo, Texas, acquired several franchises in Texas and the surrounding states. Two hundred more locations were added during a period of slower expansion. The next big move Copeland made would be far larger than any single franchise, and far riskier.

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• 4. Debt and Rescue

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  In 1989, Copeland Enterprises bought Church's, a rival that also specialized in Southern fried chicken. By 1990 the company was in default on $391 million in debts from that purchase. In April 1991 it filed for bankruptcy protection. The court approved a plan in October 1992, put forward by a group of Copeland's creditors. It created America's Favorite Chicken Company, Inc., known as AFC, as the new parent company for both Popeyes and Church's. AFC went public in 2001 with an initial public offering of $142,818,479 and began trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol AFCE. On the 29th of December 2004, AFC sold Church's to Arcapita, formerly Crescent Capital Investments, and kept Popeyes. One piece of the business had stayed behind with the old owner. The seasonings and recipes belonged to a separate company that remained in the hands of Al Copeland and, later, his estate.

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• 5. Recipes and Buyers

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  On the 21st of January 2014, AFC was renamed Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., and its ticker became PLKI. Five months later, on the 17th of June 2014, the company announced that it had regained full control of its seasonings, recipes, and other proprietary food preparation techniques. They had belonged to Diversified Foods & Seasonings, which stayed under the control of Al Copeland and his estate after the creditor sale. Popeyes had kept licensing them and paid a yearly "spice royalty." It then bought them outright for $43 million. Diversified Foods & Seasonings remains the main supplier for Popeyes until at least 2029. On the 21st of February 2017, Restaurant Brands International announced a deal to buy Popeyes for US$1.8 billion. The deal closed on the 27th of March 2017, at $79 per share, through an indirect subsidiary called Orange, Inc. The new parent made a promise in January 2023: to source 100% cage-free eggs by 2030.

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• 6. Beans, Biscuits, and Turducken

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  Red beans and rice, Cajun fries, mashed potatoes with Cajun-style gravy, Cajun rice, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and biscuits fill out the sides. The chicken comes in mild and spicy flavors. Shrimp and catfish give the menu a seafood side. Over the years the company announced a string of limited experiments. On the 30th of October 2006, AFC said Popeyes planned a trans fat-free biscuit and french fries with one gram of trans fat by year-end. On the 18th of November 2011, it announced a Fried Turducken sandwich for Thanksgiving, built on the first ever Turducken patty. On the 29th of July 2013, it began offering chicken strips dipped in waffle batter, an idea already proven in some markets. For a limited time in 2017, "Sweet and Crunchy" chicken wore a shortbread cookie breading. In 2021, a flounder sandwich joined the lineup, continuing a habit of sandwich experiments that had begun long before.

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• 7. The Sandwich Rush

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  The Popeyes chicken sandwich first went on sale at Sweet Dixie Kitchen, a Long Beach restaurant, in August 2019. That restaurant was locally famous for reselling fried chicken it had bought at Popeyes. The sandwich was meant to compete with Chick-fil-A's flagship sandwich. It reached every US location on the 12th of August 2019, after some advance openings at the beginning of that year. The advertising agency GSD&M designed the campaign, which started that same day with a tweet on the Popeyes Twitter feed. The sandwich went viral at once and drew responses from nearly every fast food chain, including McDonald's, Chick-Fil-A, and Wendy's. Popeyes reported a 103% increase in traffic in the days that followed. It also estimated that the sandwich brought in $23 million of free publicity. Lines grew long. Outside a Maryland restaurant, a man was stabbed to death during a dispute over cutting in line. Locations were supposed to have enough supplies to last until the end of September. Instead, restaurants were almost entirely sold out in under two weeks. On the 27th of August, Popeyes announced it had sold out across the country. One person in Tennessee sued, claiming that being unable to get the sandwich had "hustled" him "out of money." He accused the company of false advertising and deceptive business practices. On the 28th of October 2019, Popeyes said the sandwich would return on the 3rd of November. It is buttermilk-battered white meat on a brioche bun with pickles and either mayonnaise or a spicy Cajun spread. Canada got its turn in September 2020.

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• 8. Orange, Jingles, and Race Cars

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  Orange and white are the colors of the restaurants' exteriors. The original locations had black lava rock walls under red shingled roofs, and most older ones have since been covered in orange stucco. New Orleans-style music runs through the television and radio ads. They often carry the trademark "Love That Chicken" jingle, sung by New Orleans funk and R&B musician Dr. John. In 2009, Popeyes introduced "Annie the Chicken Queen," a fictitious chef played by actress Deidrie Henry. Chief Marketing Officer Dick Lynch described the character as "honest, vibrant, youthful and authentic." He added, "Everyone has a relative or a good friend who will give it to them straight, and that's what Annie is all about." Sponsorship has also reached the racetrack since 2000. Driver Rich Bickle ran six Busch Series races for the company that year. Mark McFarland got a one-race deal in the same series the next season. In March 2018, Tyler Matthews made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway in the No. 99 Popeyes truck. Brennan Poole and Vizion Motorsports carried the brand to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway that same year.

  In Germany and Japan, some Popeyes restaurants sit only on US military installations and are generally closed to the local civilian public. Elsewhere the record is a story of arrivals, exits, and returns. In the Philippines, Popeyes arrived in 2001, left in 2007 after a problem with the franchisor, and came back under a new deal with Kuya J Group in 2018. Its first branch there opened in Pasig on the 19th of May 2019. In Indonesia, the first store opened in 2000. The last of the early stores, in Puri Indah Mall in West Jakarta, closed in 2011. The chain returned with a store in the Skyline Building in Central Jakarta on the 23rd of December 2022. South Korea went the other way. In December 2020, Popeyes announced it would close all its Korean locations because of poor sales, partly blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic. A new agreement with Shilla International in January 2022 led to a reopening in January 2023. China got its first store on the 15th of May 2020. In South Asia, the first restaurant opened in Bambalapitiya, Sri Lanka, on the 25th of February 2021. A month later Restaurant Brands International signed a master franchise agreement with Jubilant FoodWorks for India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. The first United Kingdom restaurant opened at Westfield Stratford City on the 20th of November 2021, and British private equity firm TDR Capital invested in Popeyes UK in August 2023. In October 2021, an agreement with Romania's Sterling Cruise promised 90 restaurants in 10 years, and the first opened on the 9th of April 2022. Announcements for New Zealand and Taiwan came in 2024, and Paraguay got its first location in December 2025. A year-2000 plan to open 35 locations in Sydney is an earlier sign of the chain's ambitions in the Asia Pacific region. On the 4th of May 2026, the first German location open to the general public opened on the arrivals level of Düsseldorf Airport, run by Lagardère Travel Retail Deutschland.

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